Dual HBA still means you have a single controller which would prevent you from upgrading the firmware without having any impact in a multi-path setup on the LUN access.
Do you have a spare Emulex of the same type? If so, you could upgrade it and add it to this system to see whether it is recognized. IF it the upgraded Emulex is recognized and is useable, you could zone the new HBA for access to the LUNs. Switch one of the Paths from the old card to the new card port.
See if the LUN is detected. And if all works, you can then run the firmware update on the original card. IF the update fails or alters anything that prevents the old card with the new firmware from accessing the LUNs, the other card will work while you fix the zoning to match the old upgraded cards changes.

This I think will provide you with lower downtime as well as minimize the risks covered by hanccocka

The firmware has more to do with the OS and driver compatibility than to update just because your firmware is out of date. Unless there is a very SPECIFIC problem with the HBA firmware, I wouldn't touch it.

So if you aren't having problems, and your LUNs connect, don't bother updating the firmware. BIOS updates, Controller firmware for RAID, and drives yes.. but HBA firmware, it's not a good idea. ESX is very strict about hardware, and the firmware level.

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MaddyUNIXAuthor Commented: 2011-05-05

Hi hanccocka,

1. What build of VMware ESX 3.5 ?

317866

2. what SAN are you using?
EMC CX4480
3. firmware version on the SAN?
flair code is 4.30.

Note: We supporting this servers remotely , that is big headache for us .:-(

Well, I'm afraid you are going to have to ask for scheduled downtime to provide the firmware upadates.

and if you want to provide in a Risk free manner, it's best you are actually at the servers you are upgrading, so you can disconnect the fibre cables, and check out the environment is correct before starting the upgrade, the last thing you want is a power outage in the middle of a firmware upgrade, and corrupt the hba with a bad firmware upload.

So, on this occasion, to perform this, you are going to have to visit the site. It would be very risky to perform this any other way.

But with the spare hba you have, you can run through and test the procedure, to familarise yourself with it before going to site.

Before you go onsite make sure to know whether they have a "floppy/CD-rom" in the system.
So that you have all that you need to perform the update boot floppy/cd with the firmware etc.

hanccocka has provided the steps, but I in a production environment with an intermittently bouncing LUN issues, would not do a firmware update unless I had a backup plan/HBA that will provide return the server to the production state.

If this is on a fiber switch, check the switch for errors on the ports.
Are both HBA ports used on the dual HBA? The issue might be a misconfiguration on the LUN allocation such that it is not accessible on the other processor unit?

What is the environment like? are there two switches with each having one processor connected from the SAN or is there a single switch with both SAN CPUs connected?
How are the ports zoned? i.e. can hba 1 access the LUN on both SAN CPUS?

As per my understanding i need to have CD-ROM - disk with drdflash.exe , DOSLPCFG.exe in my disk. and put in to signal user mode and reboot the server with disk. and run below commands to upgrade firmware to both the HBA

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